Our first day...

We left a little bit later than we had planned, actually, quite a bit later. We had more “last minute” things that we thought we had, I suppose. Dad and I arrived home at 3:15 am this morning after packing the trailer. The guys helped out, but as the hours progressed, and as we thought we were almost done, we sent them home to get some rest. (For those of you who don’t know, we were packing up for our long trip across the country.) I woke up early this morning thinking that the rest of the family had already packed and didn’t want them to wait on me. So, I dressed quickly, and began to pull clothes out of my closet and drawers and practically pack my whole wardrobe! Gee, it is amazing to see how much you can cram into a suitcase you are sharing with two other girls. J That soon done, I went downstairs, and to my dismay, only one person had packed the day before! I started rushing around quietly, hoping my wonderful, hard-working Dad could get as much sleep as possible. The house began to stir and things started to come together.

I ran to the office to make the Crème’ Brule’ so that we could offer a few to our customers whilst I was away. With that done, I had a few other things to do while I was there and after that, I said all of my good-byes L and went back to the house.

To make a long story short, we didn’t leave Katy until around 4:30 in the afternoon with enough Houston traffic ahead of us to last us a lifetime. Our plans to stay with our dear friends in Alabama were pretty much shot, and we only made it to somewhere in Louisiana at 12:45 am. Thoroughly exhausted we fell into bed and tried to get a few hours of sleep before the new day began.

On the Lord's Day

At the end of our church service today, we sang a new closing hymn. It is an old Jewish song, entitled Shalom Chaverim. The song is absolutely beautiful. The little girls enjoy singing both the English, as well as the Hebrew lines. The tune can be found at http://www.ingeb.org/songs/shalomch.mid

Shalom chaverim, shalom chaverim, shalom, shalom!
Luhitraot, luhitraot, Shalom, Shalom!

Farewell good friends, farewell good friends, Shalom, Shalom!
Till we meet again, till we meet again, Shalom, Shalom!

The Lord’s Day is truly a wonderful and refreshing day. A day to celebrate, to give thanks, to grow, to fellowship. It is a day to be reminded of the great sacrifice Christ made for His chosen people. His depth of mercy, His vast amount of love, His empowering forgiveness – He is truly an awesome God. How much easier it would be to make a sacrifice for those whom you not only loved, but who also loved you. Our King sent His only Son to lay down His life for those who didn’t love Him. This kind of love can’t be measured.

We are commanded to love the brethren—to be longsuffering, gentle, and patient. It sounds so easy, and yet in our everyday lives we get frustrated and overwhelmed. We so quickly forget what Scripture teaches on love and we think about ourselves and what would be more convenient for our wants. Why should we go out of our way to bless someone, to help carry the burdens of others, especially when they never do so for us?

Where would we be if Christ would have thought this way? What an incredible debt we owe our King. By taking His example and lead, so we should also treat the brethren. We should always seek their good, but not for our glory, but for the glory and praise of our King. In doing so, the world will see something different, they will see true love and they will wonder what drives us to do what we do. This is one of the greatest witnesses of all time. What a privilege to be chosen for such a calling. May we always strive to be worthy of our calling, and in our time of need, may His love and mercy be there to carry us on.